iPad5: Four New Features I Want

A Better iPad

So while we wait, here are Four features I would like to see in the new iPad5, in order of preference:

More RAM

The iPad4 is incredibly fast considering its relatively paltry 1GB of RAM. It’s a testament to good software design what some games and high-end image editing programs are able to do with such limited resources and they should be commended for their constraint and programming discipline. But enough is enough – give us another gig or two!
Just imagine the iPad with 4GB of RAM. It wouldn’t just be fast – it would fly! And couple that with the already-impressive Quad Core Graphics in the processor, you’d have a lean, mean, gaming-and-professional-quality-visual-editing machine! No more would budding visual artists, photographers and video editors have to incorporate a “real computer” into their pipeline. It could all be done on an iPad.
And Gaming? Forget about it. The iPad already has an impressive lineup of games, but this would put it well over the top. You think the recent release of Knights of the Old Republic was a big deal? Wait until you see the iPad version of Crysis3 or Aion. With mention of Gaming comes the inevitable mention of . . .

Gamepad Compatibility

Steve Jobs’s vision for the iPad was an all-inclusive device that didn’t need anything added to it. It’s a great thought, but it means that the iPad has continually been something of a letdown when it comes to supporting third-party hardware. It is time to change the philosophy to something more like, “the average user won’t need anything besides their iPad, but we want to make the device practical for everyone including specialists and enthusiasts.”
In short, Apple should either make a universal gamepad for the iPad (iGamepad? iController? iPwn?) or at least write compatibility with existing generic devices into iOS. And speaking of iOS . . .

A Better File Management System

I am currently trying out a certain 3D Modeling App to review on this site (stay tuned, modelers!). This particular App can import a certain filetype, but because of iOS’s restrictions and because there is no way (that I can find) to save a file that the iPad can’t attribute to a certain app, I have to transfer the files from my desktop like a sucker. What happened to the all-inclusiveness?
While file systems can end up being just as disorganized and messy as their owners, I don’t think it would be that difficult to write one in, at least for downloaded files. If they like, it can even make “clean-up recommendations” once in a while, or have a limit on the file size. I think this would do a lot to attract more Windows Users like myself, since they’re used to seeing all their files in a list or as icons. We shouldn’t have to use third-party apps for this – it should be built in.

More Compatibility With Desktop-Quality Apps

You know what I would like to do? Put CS6 on my iPad so that I can use Photoshop or Illustrator on-the-go rather than wasting precious time doing it at home when I could be playing with my children. This would require something along the lines of item #1 actually happening, but I believe this step would be a significant nail in the coffin of traditional, stationary, mouse-based computing and would add yet another layer of deeper, more significant user interaction to an already very user-friendly and handy device.

So will we see improvements like some of these in the next iPad? From what I’ve been hearing, probably not. It seems that Apple is still focused on making it lighter and giving it a slim bezel facelift likely similar to its little brother. Not necessarily bad changes, but still not the leap that some of us are waiting for.